2026.7.2

It was raining heavily in the morning so that I decided to bring the new umbrella.  But in the afternoon, it stopped raining and I did not have to use it.

Today we had a visitor from France and enjoyed lunch together. 

In the afternoon I went to post office to send certified mails. At that time, it was already cloudy.

In the evening we had a visitor and I have talked with her for an hour or so and got various information to deal with.

I overworked till 8:50 PM and came home around 10:45 PM.

It was another long working day.

2026.7.1

 A new month has started.

July is shichigatsu (7月, 七月) or fuzuki (文月) in Japanese.

Today is the first day of the second half of 2026.

On the first day of the month there are some rituals for me to do such as to post the calendar of good days, to change plants, rice, salt of the inhouse shrine, to change the 5 mounted salt in house, and to visit the nearby shrine as otsuitachi mairi (お朔日参り).

I got up earlier to do these, and I took a later train than usual.

It was fine in the morning but became rain in the evening.

I worked at the office until 11 AM and went to the Haneda Airport to meet participants of the program around 1 PM. I took one of them to Shinagawa station and after that I went back to the Haneda Airport again to meet another participant around 7 PM. It was rather hard.

I had lunch at a Japanese restaurant in Haneda with my colleague.  It was a good chance to talk about us besides work. We had something in common.

I came home around 10:00 PM or so.

2026.6.30

 The last day of June. It was fine.

On June 30 there is a shinto ritual called "Nagoshi no oharae" at shrines. There is a custom called "Chinowa kuguri" passing through the straw ring built in front of the main hall. The route is first counterclockwise, second clockwise, third counterclockwise saying mantra.

Last Sunday I went to Enoshima shrine and did this. This is a ritual to cleanse away the grime accumulated over the past six months.

It is the full moon tonight. 

I overworked till 9:30PM or so and came home around 11:30 PM and saw the beautiful strawberry moon.